


Settled By Tussling

by Smapdi



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 17:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3776437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smapdi/pseuds/Smapdi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Weiner Night. What if Danny hadn't gone off with that brunette?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Settled By Tussling

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this a long time ago and lost track of it. It turned out differently than I planned.

"Okay, go. You obviously you want to go, just... go."

Danny hesitated. He glanced up at the tall brunette, and then back at Mindy, who was now looking at him weirdly. 

"Naw, it's okay... Thanks, but..." He waved the woman away. 

"That was weird. Why didn't you go?" Mindy asked him as he swayed closer to her. She could smell the combination of booze and cigarettes on his breath. It wasn't entirely unpleasant. 

"She's a... a groupie. Besides, I'm too drunk." He said, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. "Too... drunk..." 

"Yeah, I saw you double fisting it in there. Can you make it home okay?" She fumbled for her phone to see if she had any texts. Not that she wanted to hear from Jason, but still... He hadn't even said goodnight. 

Her phone was undisturbed. When she glanced back at Danny, he was staring at her chest. "Handsome, eh?" A leer spread across his face. "What does that mean exactly?"

"Knock it off, Danny. You're not that drunk." She stood up, steadying her self on his shoulder as she rose, and he wrapped an arm around the back of her knees. "Hey. Inappropriate touching." 

"I'm a little dizzy, is all..." 

Mindy stepped gingerly out of his limp grasp. "Okay, the night air will sober you up a little. Walk me home." She reached her hands out to help him up and he nearly pulled her over. "Jesus, he-man, can you be a little more delicate with a lady?"

"Sorry, sorry." He mumbled, finally finding his footing, but not letting go of her hands. She shook her head and pulled them away. 

"Danny, your breath is like a dinosaur's ass." She pulled an Altoid from her purse and shoved it at him. 

He laughed and put the mint in his mouth. "Cimmammon?" He slurred as it stung his tongue. "No wonder you always smell like that." 

Mindy turned to make a clever remark about what a stalker he was to know her scent, but the words died in her throat when she met his eyes. He was looking at her with a goofy half smile and she didn't know why it suddenly felt so intimate. It was just a fucking breath mint. 

"Let's go," she said quietly, turning away and walking briskly. He caught up to her quickly. 

"Hey. I'm only like six blocks over."

"Okay, I'll walk you home, I guess." She slowed down as they approached the street corner and Danny's hand automatically landed on the small of her back. 

"Better?" His hot breath was on her cheek, and it was better, and she closed her eyes as if that would somehow stop the hairs at the back of her neck from standing up. 

"Green light. Green means go, Lahiri." His arm was around her waist now, his fingers curling in, just above her hip, and he tugged her into the crosswalk. Mindy had to hop to get her footing. Danny leaned back in, all minty and overly familiar. "You always look good in green."

She wanted to push him away, mock his weird drunkenness, but for some reason she really, really liked the feeling of being tucked against his side. As soon as they hit the curb and stepped up, though, he dropped his arm and moved away from her, wandering to the dimly lit window of a closed store. 

"Now, this is art. Pictures of naked people isn't art. It's anatomy class."

Mindy followed and peeked around him, her hand on his back. 

Danny was gazing at what looked like an old rickety bench, sitting in the display of an upscale junk store, where people bought and sold "antiquities" and memorabilia for outrageous prices. 

"An old bench is art, Danny?"

He gave her a quick side eye and returned to gazing in the window.

"That's not an old bench, Min. That's a seat from Yankee stadium. It's a priceless artifact of the days when baseball players weren't pumped full of juice. They were full of Wheaties, and that's all! God, that's beautiful."

"You're way drunker than I thought. Do you have a Keurig at home?"

"A what?"

"A coffee maker. You need something hot and dark."

"That's what she said." Danny giggled at himself, a surer sign of his intoxication than blood alcohol levels. 

"Yeah, well, you missed the boat on that one, Dan."

"Oh, did I?"

He wasn't looking at her, but the tone in his voice was... flirty? Definitely drunk. Mindy shrugged it off and dragged him away from the window. "Come on, let's get you home."

They walked briskly in the cool night air and Danny got quieter and more broody as the alcohol burned through him. By the time they reached his building, Mindy was a little out of breath and she stopped and leaned on the railing. The street was dark and devoid of cabs, but no way in hell was she walking all the way. She already felt a blister threatening on her heel. 

"Come on up," Danny muttered as he grabbed her hand. 

"What?" 

"I need your help with something." 

Mindy followed him, now more curious than anything else. Danny wasn't the kind to ask for help, and she was pretty sure it wasn't an innuendo. Almost positive, in fact. 

He had a singleminded vision, dropping her hand once they were inside, and she traipsed after him as he stormed through his living room into the bedroom. She hesitated, until he bellowed her name. She was 90% sure, still. 

She found Danny on his hands and knees under his bed. 80%. 

He grunted a bit and then pulled out something flat and rectangular in an envelope. 

"What are you doing, Danny?"

"She left this," he shouted as he wielded the packet victoriously. "And now I'm going to burn it!"

"What is it?" 

Danny pulled out a small canvas with his profile on it, his eyes closed. "It's kindling," he spat bitterly. 

"What? No, you can't burn that!" Mindy cried. He gave her a wicked grin and stormed past her towards his kitchen. She ran after him and caught him by the arm halfway there. "Seriously, Danny, don't. It's you! And it's beautiful." 

He stopped and looked at her in surprise, and she felt herself blushing. "I mean, the photography, and she left it for you, so she must have thought you'd want it, and yeah she's the worst but the picture, it's... it's..." 

"She was going to send it off to some magazine, she didn't leave it for me. And I want to watch it burn, Mindy." He started to pull away and her grip tightened. 

"No! You're just drunk and angry, and anyway, it's not the picture's fault all this happened."

"You're worried about the picture's feelings?" Danny snorted. "What about my feelings? I'm the one who was humiliated, put on display. I think my feelings come first."

"Well, that's true but..." Mindy grabbed at the canvas, her fingers curling around one side before his reflexes kicked in to yank it out of her reach. He pulled, and she pulled back, pushing on his arm with her free hand. He fumbled and lost his grip and she wrenched it from him and spun around. 

Danny wasn't a quitter, and he wrapped her in a clumsy bear hug from behind, shouting "give it back!" She tried to pull free and twisted in his grasp, but only succeeded in knocking them both off balance and they landed heavily on his couch. 

Mindy was out of breath for the second time in just a handful of minutes, but this time it was a combination of landing with the solidly built frame of Danny Castellano knocking it out of her, and the fact that Danny Castellano was _on top of her._ Completely on top of her, squashing her, his body pressed heavily against hers, and he wasn't getting up. No, he just stared at her, his mouth slightly slack, his breathing noisy. 

And she was staring right back at him. Everything just halted, their fight settled in a draw, but something much more combustible was happening. Danny looked down at her mouth and flicked his gaze back to her eyes, and she thought for a moment he was going to kiss her. 

And then he rolled off her and up into a sitting position and she was unbelievably disappointed which was not at all the emotion she should have felt. Not at all. 

"Fine. But you'd better take it with you, because it's not staying here." 

Mindy sat up and pushed her skirt down awkwardly. Danny was slumped forward, hands clasped, elbows on knees, his head turned to look at her. She exhaled and met his eyes. 

"Sure, Danny, I'll hang it up in the office lobby."

"You will not! I'll, I'll..." He saw the mirth in her eyes and stopped stammering, a wry smile twisting his lips. He leaned back, press the heels of his hands to his eyes. Mindy was torn. She knew she should probably get home, avoiding any further awkwardness and what was clearly wishful thinking on her part. She didn't want to dwell on that, but she kind of didn't want to leave, either. 

Danny interrupted her train of thought. "Hey, what happened to your date? Jason, was it?"

"Hardly even a date," she sighed. "I arrived with you and left with you. He spent more time with Jeremy than he did with me, and he didn't even say goodbye."

"Maybe he went home with Jeremy?" Danny laughed. "You know, that might be why you have trouble with guys..."

Mindy flailed at him, smacking him on the shoulder. "Shut up, shut up!"

"You know how to pick 'em, Lahiri!" He blocked her slaps as best he could, and when she finally stopped her relentless assault, his hand had landed on her knee. "C'mon, it explains why he wasn't interested in, you know..."

"Oh. He was interested in you know." She crossed her arms and huffed. "That's all he was interested in. He was plenty eager to sleep with me, but he didn't see any future with us."

"Well, that happens sometimes." 

Mindy glanced down at Danny's hand as he rubbed soft circles into her skin, and she wasn't sure if he was doing it on purpose. 

"Why did you even bother inviting him tonight?" he continued. 

"I don't know, I just wanted him to see that I have class." She uncrossed her arms and rested one hand on the seat beside her. 

"Well, bringing him to a nudie show is pretty classy," Danny chuckled. 

"Whatever, it didn't work. I'm too lowbrow for him, yet somehow not slutty enough. Who could have guessed?" Mindy smiled, but it was a little forced. 

"No, you're a nice girl." His voice seemed lower, scratchier, and his eyes were dark as he looked at her from under heavy lids. 

"I am a nice girl, Danny!" There was a little real outrage amidst the mock. 

"I just said that."

"Yeah, but you sounded sarcastic, and also..." She gestured at his hand, which had traveled slightly north to caress a spot just above the back of her knee. "You're kind of about to put your hand up my skirt."

Danny looked a little surprised and pulled his hand away, apologizing. 

"Hey, I didn't tell you to stop," Mindy joked, and Danny looked down and laughed, and then looked back up to meet her eyes. "Okay, well..." 

She was about to stand up and make her exit and then he leaned in and kissed her. 

His lips were crazy soft, and his hand moved from her cheek to her hair and back before pressing around to the back of her neck. Danny pulled back and looked at her, and the surprise in her eyes reflected in his as well. He started to speak and she pulled him back to her. 

It was languid, the way his mouth moved against hers, the warm intensity building as he pushed her back against the couch, the way had they started. Mindy shifted her hips and Danny settled between her thighs, his mouth moving in a hot trail down her neck. Her mind cleared for a minute, going from I can't believe this is happening to this shouldn't be happening in an instant. Danny had one hand on the curve of her hip and the other was blazing a trail down the top of her dress. 

"Danny," she whispered, inadvertently sounding much sultrier than she had planned. "Danny, we can't do this."

His hand was blazing hot on the skin just above her breast, and he murmured into the hollow of her throat. "Yes, we can."

"No, really. It's a bad idea, it's not like, we're not... I'm just here, Danny."

He stopped and lifted himself up slightly. "No, that's not true. I mean, you are here, but that's not..."

"Yeah, it is. And if I didn't do it with Jason, I'm not gonna do it with you, Danny. I don't care if I ever see him again."

Danny made a face, and once again rolled off her and sat up. "I'm not Jason, Min." He looked mildly insulted and more than a little hurt. "Why would you even say that?"

Mindy sat up, feeling her pulse still pounding. "I can't just do the one night stand thing, Danny. Not with you. And I know you certainly don't think that we would have a future..."

"You don't know what I think." His brow was furrowed. "Mindy, I..." He looked down at his hands, then back to her face. "I've wanted this for a long time."

She swallowed hard, still disbelieving. "Danny, you're just drunk. Drunk and horny. That's the only reason you're saying this."

"It's not, Min. It's not. I'm not even that drunk anymore. Just... just enough to make a fool out of myself." 

"Stop." Mindy reached for his face and cupped his cheek, running her thumb over his lips to quiet him. "You haven't... But I still think it's the liquor talking. The liquor, and..." She glanced down to his lap. "You know."

"I could have gone home with that girl." Danny held her hand to his face. "I didn't want that." 

"But you want me?" She couldn't help the little squeak when her voice broke, and he smiled and turned his head to kiss her palm. 

"I want you." He reached out to push her hair back, stroking a lock. "I thought... I kind of thought you knew."

It was Mindy's turn to furrow her brow. "I didn't... How would I have? I mean, you were a little handsy tonight, but I didn't know. Maybe... maybe I hoped."

Danny leaned in to kiss her again. "Tomorrow, I'm gonna go buy that Yankees seat."

"Okay..."

"Do you want to come with me?"

"Like a date, Danny? We're going antiquing?" 

He laughs against her neck. "Yeah, like a date. It's gotta be better than spending an evening looking at giant pictures of my naked body."

"Im not so sure, Danny. Maybe I need to see the real thing. You know, for comparison purposes. See how much touching up was done." 

"I think that can be arranged."


End file.
